By Mike Petraglia | Comments Off on Isaiah Thomas: Making playoffs would mean ‘everything’

With the playoffs just a win away, Isaiah Thomas can sense a dream finally coming true.

Thomas has been a key spark to the Celtics improbable run to the postseason, and he was again Sunday. As the Celtics raced out to a 9-0 lead, a cakewalk seemed likely.

But the Cavaliers, playing without LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love and JR Smith, actually made a 18-4 run and the Celtics were back on their heels. Enter Thomas. His energy and drive to the basket turned the Celtics back in the right direction and the Celtics outscored Cleveland, 34-9, in the second quarter. Game over.

“Just how locked in,” Thomas said of the second quarter. “What we’re trying to do is get to the playoffs so coach [Brad Stevens] said we were a very mature team, for 48 minutes. That’s a good thing.”

Thomas had a big impact with his 17 points off the bench Sunday. But he couldn’t control what happened in Indianapolis as the Pacers stayed alive with a win over Oklahoma City. So, Thomas had to wait another two days to celebrate his first playoff berth. If the Celtics can beat the Raptors Tuesday night at TD Garden, Thomas and the Celtics won’t have to worry about what the Pacers do against Washington.

“It’s everything,” said Thomas, who has toiled four years for the Kings and Suns. “In my NBA career I haven’t been to the playoffs so it’s something that I want to experience. I heard it’s fun, it’s exciting and it’s a new season. Once you make the playoffs, everybody’s 0-0 and it’s a new season so I’m excited about it, hopefully we do get it.

“We’ve just been trying to lock in and focus in on what we’re trying to do which is get to the playoffs. Staying in the moment, taking every day by day, game by game, and like I said, really focusing in on what we’re trying to do.”

Thomas is one of several Celtics who have fed off the mindset of Brad Stevens. The coach has drilled into his team the importance of not looking beyond the next game. It’s worked.

“He’s just laid back, you try to feed off of him as much as possible but he’s so even-keeled, you can’t really read his mind,” Thomas said. “He’s just always about staying in the moment, no matter what it is, good or bad, stay in the moment, don’t think about the future or the past, have a short memory. That’s one thing coach is very, very positive with.

“Your coach is your leader, basically. You look to him for advice, for confidence, things like that. He’s so even-keeled that he’s at the same [point], he’s never too high, never too low. That’s a great thing to have, everybody’s not like that.”

By Ben Rohrbach | Comments Off on Irish Coffee: The case for Isaiah Thomas as Sixth Man of the Year

When I tried to make a case for Brad Stevens as the NBA’s Coach of the Year, I couldn’t talk myself into it, even though he most certainly belongs on the short list of candidates. But making an argument for Celtics point guard Isaiah Thomas as the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year is easier, because he deserves the award.

Thanks to his 34-point effort in Wednesday night’s victory against the Pistons, the Celtics improved to 16-11 since the trade deadline deal for Thomas, climbing to seventh place in the Eastern Conference standings. Prior to his arrival at the All-Star break, the C’s owned a 20-31 record and sat 10th in the East.

Conversely, the Suns started 29-25 with Thomas coming off the bench and owned the eighth seed in the brutal Western Conference at the All-Star break. Since the trade deadline, when Phoenix also swapped Goran Dragic for Brandon Knight, the Suns are 10-15 and have all but clinched 10th place in the West.

Plenty of factors have contributed to the Celtics rising and the Suns setting since the Thomas trade. Phoenix soon lost Knight to a season-ending heel injury, while the additions of Jonas Jerebko and Gigi Datome have also improved the C’s depth. But there’s no denying Thomas’ impact in both cities.

Unfortunately, we don’t have the luxury of evaluating how each Sixth Man of the Year candidate impacted two separate teams’ playoff chances, since none of the other top contenders swapped rosters this season, but we do have a season’s worth of statistics to compare a field I’ve whittled down to six — Thomas; usual suspects Lou Williams (Raptors), Jamal Crawford (Clippers) and Manu Ginobili (Spurs); reigning First Team All-Defensive wing Andre Iguodala (Warriors); and rookie forward Nikola Mirotic (Bulls).

Playing their final game against a lottery-bound team, the Celtics badly needed a win to remain in the Eastern Conference playoff hunt, and Isaiah Thomas — now recovered from the back injury that sidelined him for two weeks last month — carried them to a 113-103 victory against the host Detroit Pistons.

Thomas scored a season-high 34 points to go along with six assists, leading the C’s to their fourth win in five games. Combined with a loss by the Nets (36-42), the Celtics (36-42) assumed the seventh seed in the East with the head-to-head tiebreaker against Brooklyn.

The Indiana Pacers (35-43) and idle Miami Heat (35-43) remain a game back of the Celtics, who face a home-and-home series this weekend against the Cleveland Cavaliers, who clinched the second seed on Wednesday night and would currently host the C’s in a first-round playoff matchup.

From the outset, the Pistons’ frontcourt tandem of Greg Monroe (19 points, 10 rebounds) and Andre Drummond (22 points, 14 rebounds) proved a problem for the undersized Celtics. In the opening 5:34, Monroe and Drummond each scored six points on four shots apiece — all in the paint — forcing Celtics coach Brad Stevens to call his first timeout. Detroit bruised its way to an early 14-8 advantage and made the C’s to rethink their lineup early. Monroe, of course, becomes an unrestricted free agent when the Celtics have money to spend this summer, although his inability to stretch the floor with a jump shot may not fit Stevens’ pace-and-space system.

BENCH MOB

Rather than match size with size, Stevens instead replaced Brandon Bass and Tyler Zeller with Jae Crowder and Kelly Olynyk, asking Monroe and Drummond to defend out to the 3-point line. As a result, the Celtics closed the first quarter on a 22-2 run and led 30-16 after one. Naturally, Sixth Man of the Year candidate Isaiah Thomas helped key the run, scoring or assisting on 13 of those 22 points. By game’s end, the Celtics benched outscored their counterparts, 73-31.

The win improves the Celtics to 35-42 and put them a half-game ahead of Miami for eighth place in the East and just a half-game behind the Nets for seventh. The Heat which plays Indiana on Sunday night in the return of Pacers star Paul George, lost 99-98 at Detroit. The Nets were obliterated on the road, 131-99, in Atlanta Saturday night.

With only 2.6 seconds left and Boston trailing by one in overtime, Smart took a pass from a driving Isaiah Thomas and got behind the collapsing Toronto defense to score the winner.

Thomas scored 25 points, Tyler Zeller had 20 and Evan Turner added 18 points and 10 assists for the Celtics, who are off until Wednesday when they play in Detroit.

The Celtics appeared headed for a heart-breaking loss when Lou Williams hit a three with four seconds left, putting Toronto up, 116-115. The Celtics were able to overcome an amazing performance by DeMar DeRozan who scored 18 of his 38 points in the fourth quarter and overtime. Williams finished with 27.

By Ben Rohrbach | Comments Off on 5 things we learned as Bucks trample Celtics

Jonas Jerebko

Allowing 36 points in the third quarter, the Celtics essentially removed themselves from the running for the Eastern Conference’s sixth seed, dropping a 110-101 decision to the Bucks at home on Friday night.

The final two playoff spots in the East remain in play, but this latest loss did the Celtics (34-42) no favors, as they remain behind the Brooklyn Nets and Miami Heat in the race for seventh and eighth.

Jared Sullinger briefly returned against the Bucks (38-38), Isaiah Thomas scored a team-high 23 points to go along with six assists, Avery Bradley added 17 points and Jonas Jerebko (17 points, 5 assists) submitted arguably his most impressive performance in a Celtics uniform, but it wasn’t enough.

The Celtics handed the 10th annual Red Auerbach Award — given to the player who best embodies what it means to wear the green — to a beaming Avery Bradley prior to tipoff. And the fifth-year guard took the role rather seriously, scoring the team’s first nine points to establish an early 9-6 advantage. Playing all 12 minutes of the first quarter, Bradley was omnipresent defensively, wreaking enough havoc to help hold the Bucks to 40 percent shooting in the frame and take a 25-21 lead after one.

BUCKING THE TREND

The Celtics led by only two at halftime, but appeared in control of the flow of the game, and when Tyler Zeller immediately gave them a 54-50 edge after the break, it seemed like we were in for more of the same — a game C’s team holding off a series of surges from the visitors. Then, the Bucks rattled off a 28-8 run that transformed a four-point advantage into a 78-62 deficit late in the third quarter. Ersan Ilyasova and Zaza Pachulia combined for 20 of Milwaukee’s points in a run that changed the game.

JARED SULLINGER

Things got so bad in the third quarter that Celtics coach Brad Stevens turned to Jared Sullinger, who was surprisingly activated hours before the game after missing the previous 24 contests with a stress fracture in his foot. Sullinger said prior to the game he had lost 20 pounds during his absence in an attempt to answer C’s president Danny Ainge’s public criticism of his conditioning. In three minutes of work, Sullinger missed both of his field goal attempts, committed two fouls and finished a minus-7. How much he is able to help the Celtics in the final six games of their playoff push remains a question.

GOING FOURTH

Despite digging themselves a 15-point hole, the Celtics refused to go down without a fight, as has been their custom all season. Somehow Gigi Datome always seems to find himself at the heart of the C’s fourth-quarter comebacks, and while he didn’t score as the C’s slashed the deficit to four early in the fourth quarter, his insertion into the lineup immediately coincided with the 17-8 run. It must be the hair. Or his ability to spread the floor, crash the boards and play competent defense. But the Celtics never inched closer than four, and anybody who complained about the officiating might have a point.

MARKING KHRIS MIDDLETON

Bucks wing Khris Middleton will be an interesting free-agent case study. He’s exactly the type of player the Celtics covet — a potentially undervalued asset capable of playing three positions. Stevens loves Swiss Army types whose versatility allows him to toy with matchups in any number of ways. So, while teams fight over fellow restricted free agents Kawhi Leonard, Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler — all expected to remain with their current teams — is there a chance Ainge could pry Middleton from Milwaukee?

The Celtics would have to overpay, but they might be willing to do so in order to land a guy they believe fits their system. In addition to averaging 13.1 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.5 steals while shooting better than 40 percent from 3-point range and 85 percent from the free-throw line in 30 minutes a night, Middleton ranks among the league’s elite in defensive real plus-minus, defensive win shares and defensive rating. He finished with 13 points, seven rebounds and three assists in the Bucks victory.

Prior to Friday’s game against the Bucks, the Celtics named Avery Bradley as the 10th recipient of the annual Red Auerbach Award, given to the player or coach who best represents what it means to be a Celtic on and off the court.

A regular participant in the Shamrock Foundation’s charitable efforts, Bradley promptly scored the C’s first nine points against Milwaukee, surpassing 1,000 points in a season for the first time in his five-year career. Appearing in 72 of Boston’s 76 games, he has averaged 14.0 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists this season.

“Avery Bradley received this award because he embodies what it means to truly be a Boston Celtic,” Celtics co-owner Stephen Pagliuca said in a statement. “He continues to prove that not only can you be a great basketball player, but you can also be an amazing role model in the Boston community off the court. We are proud to have someone like Avery as a part of our organization, as he exemplifies exactly what it means to be a part of the Celtics franchise.”

By Ben Rohrbach | Comments Off on Jared Sullinger surprisingly returns to Celtics

Jared Sullinger

In an unexpected turn of events, Celtics forward Jared Sullinger — once thought to be out for the remainder of the regular season with a broken bone in his foot — is available to play in Friday night’s home game against the Bucks.

On Feb. 22 the Celticsannounced Sullinger “will be out for the remainder of the 2014-15 regular season” with a left metatarsal stress fracture, and C’s president of basketball operations Danny Ainge followed with some harsh words about the third-year forward’s lack of conditioning. So, when word came Friday that the injury “has healed completely,” it took everybody by surprise.

“We are excited that Jared’s recovery progressed quicker than initially expected,” Ainge said. “Jared was extremely diligent in his rehab, repeatedly expressing his eagerness to help our team reach the postseason. He will be available in a limited role this weekend as he works his way back to 100 percent game shape.”

Sullinger has averaged 14.4 points and a team-high 8.1 rebounds in 28.7 minutes over 51 games this season.